Catching Sunset, Ignoring Feelings
by iimagineyou
Summary: "Okay planet that we never bothered to name…" Over three years after Maureen Robinson spoke those words to the first planet they'd come across after leaving Earth, Don names a new one while he and Judy are on a scouting mission that has them spending the night out of the ship.


It was Don's turn to name the planet.

"Debbie," he said, taking a long moment to turn and examine the landscape after exiting the Chariot.

Jumping down from the other side, Judy called out, "We've been planet hopping for three years, and you've only now decided to name one after your beloved chicken."

"I had to find one that was worthy of the name first, Princess." Don chuckled, knowing without looking that he'd earned himself an eye roll from the young doctor. After all their time together, her mood hadn't changed regarding his preferred nickname for her.

Their scouting trip had taken them farther than they'd originally intended, mostly (Judy would say completely) due to Don's belief that they would be able to drive back to the Jupiter before dark, despite Maureen's warnings about how many hours it was until nightfall on this planet.

Judy began preparations to set-up camp for the night, pretending to both ignore and be irritated by Don's silence filling chatter.

Whenever they were paired up to scout a planet, Don always found one excuse or another to make the trip last longer. Pausing in her motions, Judy glanced in Don's direction, sending an exasperated look to his turned back. He never did this when he scouted with anyone else; having let Penny do the driving on one of their earliest times out seemed to have appealed to his sense of self-preservation, while something about being out alone with the youngest Robinson always stirred Don's responsible parental instincts, even if Will was fourteen now. Any attempts he might've made while out with either of her parents weren't tried again.

But he did always manage to convince her that it was a good idea to veer off course.

 _"_ _We should definitely check out that canyon."_

 _"_ _Didn't you see that flock of insects?" "Groups of insects aren't called flocks Don." "Whatever they're called, we have to see where they're headed."_ _"_ _There could be a food source in that forest."_ _"_ _How much more lost could we get?"_ _"_ _I bet the sunset would be beautiful from the top of that hill."_ That last one was from today. The hill that Don had driven them to was further than Don had made it sound, not that Judy didn't have eyes and a brain of her own, but if she was being honest with herself (and on the extremely rare occasions that she was honest with her sister about anything relating to Don), she didn't often need to be convinced of anything when it came to Don.

She'd come to trust him earlier on in their friendship than she cared to admit, likely somewhere between his invitation to journey out to find fuel on his crashed Jupiter, and agreeing to go out into space with her father on what was likely (and had almost become) a suicide mission.

Eventually Don's self-talk faded away and he came to help her finish preparing for the night, or so she thought.

His hand was warm and loose around her wrist.

"Come on Doc, we can do that later."

Don's movement to begin trekking the hill along with Judy's stock still stance brought his grip to her fingers before he'd noticed that she wasn't coming along with him.

"Don, it's going to be dark soon, and we're already too far to drive back to the Jupiter. That's why we've stopped here to camp in the first place, remember?"

"But this is the hill that we decided - "

"You decided."

"Okay, that I decided would be a great place to check out this planet's sunset from."

Judy was giving him an all too familiar look, but considering that she hadn't shaken his hand off of her own, Don figured that she'd give in in about, _three, two, one…_

"Alright, you win," Judy relented, instinctively turning her hand in his to hold it as she started towards the bottom of the mountain.

"I win? Did Dr. Judy Robinson just say that I, Don West, won?"

Fighting to keep the smile off of her face at Don's joking tone, Judy whipped around to him, tugged closer than anticipated as she hadn't yet let go of his hand.

And then she did.

"If you ever repeat that to anyone, I'll deny it." She tried to carry the same levity that he had had, but breaking the connection of their hands had done the same to the tension that had sprung up between them in the span of a heartbeat.

It shouldn't have been noticeable, but when something happens often enough, you come to recognize it quickly.

If Judy had looked down she would've seen the twitch of Don's fingers, but instead she turned once more and began to climb the hill.

"We're not going to be able to get up there in time to catch the sunset."

"Then why did you come with me?"

"Why do I ever come with you?"

"'Cause you lo -" the joke died in Don's throat, he cleared it. "You like me Doc, that's why, and you know I'm a blast to be around."

"Whether or not that's true," she ignored his slip-up, "that doesn't change the fact that we're not going to make it to the top of the hill by sunset."

"Not at this pace we aren't. I propose a challenge, ready, set - "

But Judy was already charging past him, "GO!"

Racing had long ago become their favourite game. At a sprint Judy could make it long past Don, but he often out paced her long-distance, though not by much.

Three-quarters of the way up, Judy still led the way, long curls bouncing off her lower back. As much as Don hated being behind, he always did appreciate the view from behind Judy. He appreciated more than that about her, but he enjoyed dropping compliments about her skills as a doctor when she least expected it, rewarded by a small smile before she made some quip to cover up her pleasure.

Half-way to the top, Don's heavy breathing close enough that Judy could feel it, or at least, she imagined she could, as she did ever since they'd been trapped like sardines in that cave-in over two years ago. The only way it hadn't called upon her PTSD from being trapped under the ice was Don's steady voice in her ear. That planet she'd named Ishmael, though she never did explain to him why.

One quarter left to go, with Don a few strides ahead thanks to a misstep that had Judy's face nearly planted on the grassy slope.

At the top, her competitive nature brought out by the thought of losing to Don, Judy threw her body forward and unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) colliding with Don's broad chest when he turned to gloat, taking them both down.

They landed hard, Don making a joke about how much weight her slim frame hid while she lay on top of him before she pushed herself up and felt his arms come away from around her. Judy took a mental note that his grasp had been protective. She ignored the following note that she liked the feeling. She always liked the feeling.

He returned to his normal running dialogue, congratulating himself on his victory and dusting off his pants, as Judy took a slow turn around to take in the view. The flora on this planet seemed to have a blue tinge to it, though the darkening sky was throwing everything into sharp relief, with purple taking over from orange, and the sun disappearing and reappearing from behind some clouds as it set.

Don came to stand to Judy's right, then lowered himself to the ground and patted the spot next to him. She took the invitation, leaning against his upper arm and then dropping her head onto his shoulder.

They sat this way together until long after the sun had dipped below the horizon, their eyes adjusting to the star lightened sky, quietly inventing and pointing out constellations, another one of their games.

Judy's breathing slowed and Don debated shaking her awake to head back down the hill. He decided against it, surprised that she hadn't made any comments about how they'd have to go back down the hill in the dark as in their haste to race up the hill neither of them had remembered to bring a flashlight.

He eased Judy down onto the grass, using his jacket as a makeshift pillow for her before laying on his side next to her, an arm over her slight waist. She immediately inched into his warmth.

It wasn't the first time they'd laid together like this, but maybe this time they would actually talk about it in the morning.


End file.
